1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony in general, and in particular to VoIP telephones. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for switching connections between a VoIP telephone and a soft phone to a gateway server.
2. Description of Related Art
Internet Protocol (IP) telephony is a service that enables transmission of voice or video over an Internet Protocol based network by using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. The IP telephony service is increasingly adopted for use in homes and businesses because of the widespread of Internet, the relatively low communication cost and the improved voice quality. Within a building, an IP phone can be used in both internal and external extension calls by integrating an IP telephony network into a local-area network (LAN).
As an example of a terminal equipment for use in the IP telephony service, an IP-only phone having a telephone transceiver and operational buttons like a general telephone can be directly connected to a LAN. In addition to the IP-only phone, a software phone (also known as a soft phone) is basically a computer configured to be usable as an IP phone by incorporating an IP telephony software for converting voice into a signal for the computer as well as connecting a handset and a headset to the computer. The soft phone is an integration of hardware and software, implementing the functionalities of the IP telephony.
A soft phone can reduce costs and save spaces on a desk by eliminating an IP-only phone. When the soft phone is implemented in a notebook personal computer (PC) equipped with a wireless LAN device, users can advantageously enjoy the soft phone at arbitrary locations within the coverage of the wireless LAN. This is also advantageous when the notebook PC is equipped with a wired LAN and when wired LAN connectors are installed at appropriate locations within a building.
However, users cannot use a soft phone until the computer starts up and valuable time can be wasted on waiting for the computer to be ready. Also, a soft phone has limited functions compared with an IP-only phone, and wearing of the headset is somewhat troublesome and inconvenient. In some cases, a soft phone may not be very stable due to mismatches with other software already installed in the computer.